Chris Cassidy, a former Navy SEAL who went on to become a shuttle astronaut and a flight engineer on the International Space Station, says that the end of the shuttle program has led many people to assume that NASA is no longer in business.

“I go to a lot of communities around the country and a lot of people think that NASA doesn’t even exist anymore because the space shuttle was retired a couple of years ago," Cassidy said Tuesday during a meeting with the U-T San Diego editorial board. "We have to beat the drum loud and clear and say, no, we’re doing good things, we’re doing science, we’re on the space station, and we’ve got this plan to get ourselves out of low earth orbit.”

The 44-year-old Cassidy made the remark during a wide-ranging interview, much of which will be published by U-T San Diego on Sunday. The interview included a discussion about the belief of many NASA critics that the space agency doesn't have a clear vision of what it will do in the future.

Cassidy said, "There's been a few years post-shuttle and up until about now where we have been a little -- to be quite honest -- a little bit lacking of a vision, and funding has been a challenge. But by the same token the whole nation has had financial troubles. Certainly, every industry had to take a step to tighten the belt buckle a bit during that period of time (recession).

"However, I think right now we’ve turned the corner on that and have our sights pretty well set on Mars, and the 2030 timeframe. We're building a launch architecture that will get us there, we’re building (the) Orion capsule that will get us there, and (the) test of that capsule is later this year, around Christmas time."

Cassidy is a strong supporter of NASA's plans to eventually send humans to Mars. He said, "I just think that it is in the human nature’s way to explore. We were all captivated as a world when people were putting their footprints on the moon. That was in the early stages of TV. Can you imagine what it would do to the world with Internet and the way that media can be spread instantly around the planet if the whole entire world is watching ... people walk around Mars? I just think it would internationally pull everybody together and do a lot of good for a lot of people."

Cassidy made his remarks on the fifth anniversary of his first trip into space. On July 15, 2009, he traveled to the International Space Station as crew member aboard shuttle Endeavour. Cassidy was part of the space station crew from March to September 2013. During his service as a Navy SEAL, he made four deployments, include two to Afghanistan. He was twice awarded the Bronze Star.